Since WC/Co-based hard metals have superior characteristics with respect to wear-resistance, high-temperature strength, elastic modules, etc., they are widely used as materials for wear-resistant components, such as non-cutting tools, die materials, etc. On the other hand, since TiC possesses superior physical and mechanical characteristics as compared to WC, the addition of titanium carbide (TiC) leads to improvement of physical and mechanical characteristics of WC/Co alloys, such as:
(1) casing adhesive wear due to its superior thermal conductivity of TiC, which is one of the main requirements for tool materials, PA1 (2) improving the mechanic characteristics of a composite, PA1 (3) TiC inhibits the growth of WC crystals so that the addition of TiC leads to an increase in thermal stability of alloys, and PA1 (4) it facilitates weight reduction. PA1 1) Spray-drying of the water solution of salts containing W, Ti, and Co for producing initial powder; PA1 2) Preliminary heat treatment of the initial powder to remove the hygroscopic components and moisture contained in the initial powder after spray-drying; PA1 3) Ball-milling in order to grind the oxide powder and mix it homogeneously with an addition of carbon; and PA1 4) Heating the powder after milling in an atmosphere of reductive or non-oxidative gas for reduction and carburization.
Currently, WC/TiC/Co hard metals are used as tool materials, and depending on the use thereof, a wide range of the TiC contents is applicable to the extent of tens of weight percentages. At the same time, Co, which is a sintering binder, is added thereto at approximately 5-15 wt %. At the time of fixation of the composition, the important factors affecting the mechanical characteristics of hard metals are the size of carbide particles, the degree of homogeneity of the structure, and the purity of initial powder. Namely, these factors should be taken into consideration.
Generally, due to the fact that the melting point of carbide (main component in hard metals) is extremely high, the only way to produce industrial goods from hard metals is by using powder metallurgy methods such as processes of compacting and sintering.
The traditional production processes for powders are rather sophisticated and have some considerable defects. The method of producing carbide powder is based on the process of reducing and carbonizing WO.sub.3 and TiO.sub.2, extracted from the ores. As for the WC powder, it is prepared by adding carbon black to the reduced W powder and ball-milling the same for an extended period of time, followed by a process of reduction and carburization in a hydrogen atmosphere at approximately 1,400-1,500.degree. C. However, because of the thermodynamically stable nature of TiO.sub.2, tens of hours are onerously required at the more high reaction temperature for reduction and carburization(above 2000.degree. C.). Even after the synthesis of TiC powder, the problem still remains due to the fact that the crystals therein tend to grow extensively during carburization to the size of single-digit microns to tens of microns.
Further, since the temperatures required for carburization are as high as 1400.degree. C., the costs of such method are quite high as they require high-temperature facilities and high energy consumption. The process of re-milling of synthesized coarse WC, TiC powder has been developed for reducing the particle size. There is a limitation of this method for preparing fine particles. Also there is a problem of impurity adulteration with increasing of the milling time. Moreover, it is virtually impossible to mix completely W, Ti with carbon or WC, TiC with Co owing to the differences in their specific gravities.
Furthermore, only the mechanical grinding process controls the particle size of the powder produced by the conventional processes. Consequently, there is a limitation in particle size reducing to fine particles. Although the main factors affecting the mechanical characteristics of hard metals are not only fineness of particles but also the degree of their homogeneity, there remains the disadvantage of failing to accomplish such homogeneous mixing due to the fact that the end-product powder is mechanically admixed therein. Also there are disadvantages caused by a high reaction temperature (ordinarily exceeding 1,400.degree. C.) and long reaction time.